IMPACT OF TELECOMMUNICATION ON TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR OF HOUSEHOLDS IN THE URBAN AND RURAL AREAS OF AKURE REGION, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the impact of telecommunication on travel behaviour of households in the urban and rural areas of Ondo State. The objectives were to identify and examine the influence of socio-economic characteristics on trip making behaviour of households in the urban and rural areas, examine the travel pattern of respondents in the urban and rural areas, examine the factors influencing the telecommunication usage of respondents in the study areas, identify the nature and characteristics of telecommunication use in the urban and rural areas, The study deployed primary data which were obtained from a multi-stage sampling and 50% of the wards were randomly selected. Base on systematic sampling of every 20th building, a total of 255buildings were selected in the urban area and information collected from two (2) respondents in each household from the selected building. In the rural area, 2% of the building were systematically selected thus 246 buildings from a total 12,365 were selected for sampling. In summary, a total of 510 and 492 questionnaires were administered in the urban and rural area while 501 and 339 respectively were accurately completed. The study revealed that variation exists in the socio-demographic of households in both urban and rural areas interms of income, educational level among others. Four socio economic factors were significant at influencing trip making of respondents in the urban area while two were significant at influencing trip making in the rural area. The travel characteristics of respondents revealed that average number of trips produced daily by respondents in the urban area were 2.0 trips while that of the rural areas was 1.0 trip. Mode of transport in both urban and rural areas revealed that 46.4% of residents in the rural areas utilized non-motorized transport (walk) while 87.5% of those in the urban areas make use of the motorized means of transport. The nature of telecommunication facilities showed that differences exist in the telecommunication usage of households in the urban and rural areas. This is evidenced in the use of social media and internet (email, e-banking, e-shopping) as a means of communication. The result of the regression analysis carried out to establish factors influencing telecommunication usage and trip making behaviour of urban rsidents among other things revealed the potency of household size, years spent in the pursuit of education, household head income, occupation, frequency of phone recharge and its cost implication while that of the rural areas were number of mobile phones, distance of prospective destination(s) and cost of phone recharge. It was further revealed that the use of telephone for calls were the most frequently used telecommunication of both urban and rural residents. 2,233 and 1,654 trips respectively were complemented, induced or substituted. The study recommends that the cost of telecommunication should be made affordable while adequate efforts should be made to make telecommunication facilities go beyond calls linkage as there are other purposes served by telephone that goes more in depth and advance than call linkages.